From theory to practice: cooperation models in a sustainable product life-cycle

Our aim is to compare cooperation models and methods with the applied field of sustainable manufacturing product life-cycle. From the CSCW point of view, we examine different organizational cooperation models and present an architectural model, which is used during design, implementation and run-time of a cooperative system. This model is called AMF (French acronym for Multi-Facets Agent model). We also describe methodological aspects which must be applied to organize the adaptation process of models to a new application field. Currently, we are applying our model to the recycling of manufacturing products which today is a major concern in the majority of industrialized countries. To be effective, recycling cannot be only considered at the ultimate stage of the product life-cycle. We present an approach in which recycling is taken into account early, during different stages and mainly in the design stage. We discuss global organization of the manufacturing product life-cycle, the information flows needed and different kinds of cooperation that must be applied.